


Of Flame and Blood

by GEODY



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Blood and Gore, Dark, Elves, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, M/M, Magic, Slow Burn, Vampires, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:33:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22470388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GEODY/pseuds/GEODY
Summary: In a time with war brewing, and when people fear their own neighbors, hope may be the last word you think of. But people say that a new age of heroes is coming. And if these heroes ever want to bring hope to these dark and bloody times, they will bleed and burn for they will be forged in a world of fire and blood.
Kudos: 1





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a story I thought of and decided to post it. I will probably be coming back to the first few chapters and changing a few things. Please leave some reviews so I can improve (I don't mind harsh constructive criticism). Thx and I hope you like it.

“You’re special,” she smiled tucking a lock of brown hair behind her own ear “I get why she choose you.” Minalla gave a confused smile not quite getting what she meant, or why there was a paladin at her door.

“Who is it?” called her mom from up stairs.

“Umm....a paladin, I think,” Minalla called back. The woman had the armor and crest of a paladin but looked to be 17, one year older than herself. She heard footsteps behind her and looked to see her father.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“Yes. First order of business, bite checks,” the young paladin answered as she called two doctors over “there have been two more sightings and six guards have gone missing.” she said with a grim face. As one of the doctors checked her neck and teeth, Minalla overheard the conversation between her father and the paladin.

“Have you heard the rumors that the blood suckers have a king now?” her father asked.

“The Blood King, they call him, yes I have heard the rumors.”

“Do you believe them?”

“I don't know, but what I do know is that lady Ashine will do her damn best to protect us.” Minalla knew that Ashine was the goddess of the sun and justice, or was it just the sun? She just knew that Ashine was her favorite deity.

“Well, I hope so,” her father replied as the doctors signaled the paladin “Oh and what did you mean by ‘first’?”

“Ah, yes, I would like to talk to you and your wife, alone,” as she said the last part, she nodded to Minalla.

“Minalla, go buy the supplies from the market,” said her father, handing her a pouch of coins. Minalla rolled her eyes and took the money and headed off for the bustling market.

That was weird Minalla thought to herself. She had heard that there was something about something attacking from the west...no from the east, but she had never heard of a ‘blood king’. And why was that paladin so young? Paladins were holy warriors and it takes many years just to be accepted. Just as Minalla started to regret not paying attention to the paladins features, she arrived at the market. For a town the size of Lily’s Hearth , it was a pretty busy market.

One merchant saw her and called her over, “Hey! Aren't you the blacksmith's daughter? What are you doing all alone? These are dangerous times you know.”

“I was sent out to buy the supplies.” Minalla replied nervously.

The merchant looked both ways then picked something up from his table “Here take this, so then if something does happen you won’t be completely helpless.” As Minalla took a few steps closer to the man, she saw that he was holding a dagger. The weapon had a normal hilt and crossguard, but the strange thing about it was its blade. It was a straight 11 inches, but what was unique about it, was how shiny it was. It glittered in the sunlight like diamonds.

The merchant noticing her amazement said, “It's made from silver, meaning that it burns undead and fiends.” Minalla didn't know a lot of things, but she did know weapons (her father made them for a living) and this was a fine one.

“Your giving this to me for free? It must be 100 gold pieces.”

“150 actually, and yes, as I said these are dangerous times.” And with that Minalla took the dagger and headed off to do the shopping.

By the time Minalla was finished, it was late dusk. She had told the many merchants to deliver the items to her house by tomorrow. As she was walking back to her house, she took the dagger out of its scabbard. It was a fine blade. She didn't know if the silver thing was true or not, but she didn't care. Out of the corner of her eye she saw three hooded men in an alley. Their hands were pale white, as pale as a dead man. They turned another alley before Minalla could make out their faces, though she didn't think much of it. It wasn't long until she heard the squeaks of bats. That was strange, bats shouldn't be out at this hour. But Minalla thought it was nothing. She made it to her house just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

“Minalla, your father and I want to talk to you,” her mother said in a nervous tone.

“Is everything all right?” Minalla replied in both a confused and worried voice, “Is it about that paladin?”

“Yes, everything is fine and yes, it's about the palad-” her father was cut off as there was a loud commotion outside.

As her father opened the door, Minalla could hear people shouting “Fire, there's a fire at the church!” Minalla bolted up and shoved past her father to see what was going on.

There were about 50 people with buckets of water rushing towards the warm glow of an immense bonfire where the iconic church to Ashine should be. The blaze was so intense Minalla could feel the heat from three blocks away. There was so much smoke it choked her lunges and burned her eyes. Her father rushed past her, holding a bucket in each hand, to the inferno.

After about three minutes, a defining boom shook the house. The thunderous sound came from the opposite direction of the burning church, the guard barracks. With that, Minalla grabbed her new dagger and the medical kit.

“Where are you going?” Minalla’s mother asked frantically.

“People may need help, and I’ll be fine,” Minalla replied already a few steps out the door. Thankfully, the guard barracks was closer then the church.

As she rounded the last corner, what she saw would stick with her for the rest of her life. It was a battle, bodies lay on the ground twisted and mangled, men in guard uniforms fought men in dark hoods, the same ones she had seen before but more of them. While the guards fought with traditional weapons like spears, shields, and bows, the hooded men fought with their bare, clawed hands. She saw a hooded man rip a man's throat out with one swift motion.

She heard something behind her, and as she turned, she had to duck or else suffer the same fate as the unfortunate men on the ground. A clawed and blooded pale white hand lashed out at her with near superhuman speed. She closed her eyes and reached for the dagger and held it out in front of her. She heard a sizzling sound and a scream. With a move of complete accident that one might mistake for one of finesse, she had cut the clawed hand off her assailant. As the shock started to wear off, she could see the man's face. It was as pale as his hands with blood red eyes and sharp fangs, almost as sharp as her dagger. And like her dagger, they were covered in blood. While the man was writhing in pain, Minalla aimed of his heart and with a quick thrust, plunged the blade into the man's chest. Before the body had hit the ground, she turned around to try and help the wounded guards, although there weren’t many. As she was tending to a few of the men as best she could, she saw the young paladin. Before, Minalla had not paid much attention to her face.The young paladin had short brown hair and green eyes, the opposite from Minalla's long almost gold hair and amber eyes. The paladin was fending off 2 of the cloaked men with a greatsword, and she wasn’t winning. Minalla grabbed her weapon and rushed to the holy warriors aid. She clumsily stabbed the one man in the back giving the paladin an opening on the other one killing him.

“Thank you for the help.” the paladin said out of breath.

"Your welcome," Minalla said. The adrenaline had worn out just enough so she could scan the area. There were 26 guards left, with countless bodies in the courtyard, six of which wore black robes. The fire had shrunk a little by the look of the smoke. Just the, Minalla saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She grabbed her weapon and quickly turned only to see a sight of relief. The guard patrols! Men with spears and crossbows came running out of alleys and what looked like a higher ranking officer was ordering people around.

Then as she looked to the direction of the main city gate she saw a sight of terror. What she saw was 40 men in dark black armor armed with maces and war hammers. But what stood out the most were the blood red eyes, which almost seemed to glow against their pale white skin. As the guards began to notice the on coming hoard, they started to form spear wall with a line of crossbows at the back. Minalla knew that even though the guards had 65 men, if these pale men were any thing like the hooded men from before, it would be a bloodbath. Before she could react, the paladin had grabbed her wrist and bolted down an alley. As she was dragged away, Minalla saw that the two groups of men had met and began to fight.

When the two were a few blocks away, Minalla dug her heels in the dirt road and yanked her wrist away. “The hell was that for?!” Minalla asked a little angry, “We have to go back and at least try to help."

"You saw what six of those things could do," the young paladin answered, "Besides, their probably already dead."

"You don't know that!" Minalla lied to herself, she knew that the paladin was right. And she hated that she knew.

"Besides, what could we have done?” The paladin replied in a sad tone. Before they could decide what to do next, they heard footsteps outside the alley. There was no time to hide, so instead the two girls drew their blades prepared for a fight.

It was a group of 3, pale men, in black armor. As soon as they saw the two of them, they ran to attack. Do to the size of the alley only one of the men could attack at a time, while Minalla could squeeze beside the paladin. The dark armored man began the fight with an overhand slam with a warhammer. The paladin parried the blow against the alley wall. Minalla used the opening and slashed at his forearm with her dagger, cutting it off. As the man screamed in pain, Minalla dropped down, just narrowly dodging a swipe from the second man, and grabbed his weapon and slammed it into the second man's knee, bending it backwards. As he fell, the paladin brought her weapon across and decapitated him, almost bringing her up just in time to block the third, man's attack. Almost. He slammed a spiked mace in to the paladin’s shoulder, denting her armor and making a horrible crunching sound as steel crushed bone. Minalla lunged up, stabbing her assailant through his jaw, in to his mouth and in his brain. The victory was short lived, though as the pained cries of her ally drew her attention.

"Oh gods, uh uh. I... don't know what to do!" Minalla said panicking. Just then, she heard a voice. It sounded like it was in her head. But strangely, it was her voice. Her own voice. And though she couldn't make out words, it calmed her, it almost seemed to guide her hand. Without thinking, she gently held out both hands and placed them on the paladins wounded shoulder, closed her eyes, and tried to focus on the voice as much as she could. She still couldn't understand it but soon, with a surge of energy, she felt a warm glow all over her body. But the place where she felt the most warmth, the most energy, was her heart. The glow died away, and with it, the pained cries of her ally. She opened her eyes to see that the paladin's shoulder had healed in seconds!

"What was that?!" the paladin asked, getting up.

"I...I haven't the slightest idea." Minalla answered getting up as well.

"Well, then thank you again. I do believe that is the second time today you've saved me." the holy warrior replied, smiling.

"Oh, it's nothing," Minalla replied blushing, "I never got your name, by the way."

"Oh, my bad its, Tana Greycrown." she said, answering the younger girls question. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, Tana saw a man in dark armor step out of a corner, though he wasn't holding a weapon. No, he was only holding a piece of paper. Tana quickly lunged forward grabbing Minalla, as a small glowing orange sphere, about the size of an apple, flew from the man right above were Tana had been. As the sphere hit the wall, a deafening boom rained across the streets. The last thing Minalla saw before the world went black, was a section of wall crumbling on top of them.


	2. A Rest

Tana awoke with a headache. Where was she? What happened last night? Something about a fight? And there was a fire. Was it a fight that led to a fire? No....was it a fire that led to a fight? Then the realization hit her like a hammer to an anvil. She tried to get up but something heavy was stopping her. She pushed against the rubble and heard some of it fall off. She pushed again and this time she saw a she saw a few rays of sunlight. Then she gathered her strength and shoved the rest of the rubble off, rolling over in the process. When she looked up at the sky, she could tell it was early in the morning. As Tana looked around her surroundings, she saw most buildings were particularly burned husks and it seemed like there wasn't another living thing for miles. A groan drew her attention.

“What happened?” Minalla asked tiredly. Her eyes went wide when she remembered the night before. She got up and tried to run down alley, Tana grabbing her before she could get far. "Please! I-I have to check on my family!" the younger girl pleaded.

"Okay, I get that, but wait for me. They could still be here." Tana explained, letting go of the girl and drew her blade. Minalla responded simply by nodding, grabbing her dagger from her belt.

As the two girls walked through the city to Minalla's house, the smell of death and smoke ran through the streets. There were so many bodies in the street, that they had to stop so Minalla could throw up in an alley.

Along the way, Minalla asked, "What were those things?"

"Good gods! Haven't you heard of the blood threat?" Tana asked back, shocked at how little the younger girl knew. Minalla answered her by shaking her head a little ashamed. Tana rolled her eyes and said, “For a while, people have been saying that the vampire States of Uskurg have united and have been planning to attack its neighbors. And I think they just did."

Minalla's eyes widened in fear, "Are you saying those men were... were vampires!?" Tana simply nodded her head grimly.

Soon, as they rounded a corner Minalla bolted to a burned house. 'Damn that girl' Tana thought as she chased after her. As Tana caught up to Minalla, she began to scold the girl, but stopped herself. Before her lay two bodies, one male and one female, both charred black with dried blood all around. The male's neck was at an awkward angle and had a blacksmith's hammer in his hand. And though Tana could barely see it, both bodies had matching gold rings, now covered in soot. The only sound for what seemed like miles, was the soft sobbing coming from the blond girl on her knees. Tana, suddenly feeling guilty, bent down to try and comfort the poor girl. Minalla, too grief stricken to do anything else, curled up it to Tana's shoulder and started to cry.

After what felt like hours of Tana trying to comfort her anyway she could (Something Tana wasn't good at), Minalla, eyes red and puffy, got up, grabbed her father's hammer, and with a sad tone, said "Let's go."

On they’re way out of the ruined city, they found a general store near the southern gate. Tana was able to scavenge about four days of food for both of them, a map of the surrounding area, a bedroll, 37 silver pieces, and the shop owner with caved in skull. After walking for six miles, in which there had been little talking, they came to a hill top to rest. During that time, Tana decided to sharpen her greatsword.

"That's a nice blade you have." It had been the first thing Minalla had said for hours.

Tana smiled, “I suppose so.” Her weapon was a two handed greatsword with a 55 inch blade and 11 inch handle. But what was unique about it was that, from the hilt, following up one edge, and an inch past the point, was made from the same metal as Minalla's dagger, sliver. "It was made by the finest blacksmiths in the capital. It was actually a gift from my father." She imminently realized her mistake. "Oh Gods. I am so sorry, I didn't mean to."

"No, it's fine! You didn't mean any harm." Minalla said with a forced smile, and though she tried to hide it, Tana could tell she was on the verge of tears. "It must have pretty hard for your father to get hold of something like that."

"Well, he's a lord, so not really." There was a long pause as the paladin chose her next words carefully. "I suppose you don't know how you healed me?" Tana asked, as she tried to move the conversation to less touchy matters.

“No, do you?!” The girl asked back, sitting up.

“I don’t know all the details, but I know a few. You're something called an aasimar." Tana paused to let her words sink in, "Your not a half-god, but a god did chose you to be an aasimar and that is a big deal."

"I think you have the wrong girl," Minalla said, sitting back down and not believing a word, "I'm not special."

Tana quickly shot up and scoffed, "That's bullshit and you know it!" Minalla was taken aback by the young paladins sudden outburst, and to be honest, Tana herself was surprised too. After a few seconds to calm herself, Tana said, "Come over here, I want to show you something," Tana waited for Minalla to join her before walking about 30 feet away, were a large rock happened to be sticking out of the ground 25 feet away. "See that rock over there, I want you to close your eyes and focus on it." Tana waited for the girl to close her eyes before continuing, "Okay, now focus on the moment you healed me, focus on the energy." Tana knew her words were helping when Minalla began to glow in a faint golden light, the place where the light was strongest, was the girl's heart. "Now I want you to envision the rock now scorched and burned." The younger girl, without even seeming to realize what she was doing, raised her arm pointed to the rock, opened her eyes as a beam of white hot fire launched out of her hand and hit the top of the rock, burning it black. Minalla leaped back in surprise as the glow left her body.

Minalla looked at her hands, then at Tana, "Did I just do that?!"

"As I said, your an aasimar, and a natural at that!" Tana answered, smirking.

"What else can I do?! Does this make me a paladin?! Are you an aasimar?!" Minalla asked, a lot more cheerful then she was a few minutes ago.

"Slow down, okay," Tana said being bombarded by questions, "First of all, I'm not an aasimar, you're not a paladin, though what you just did fits more so that of a cleric. And as for what else you can do, we’ll have to wait and find out our self's.”

Minalla nodded slowly, then asked, “I have one more question. Which god choose me?”

”Who do you think told me where to find you?” Tana asked back smiling, pointing to her holy symbol of Ashine.

Minalla, contempt with the answer, walked back to the hilltop they were resting at. When Tana caught up with her, she had pulled out the map they found

"Do you know where we're heading?" Minalla asked after looking at the map.

"Well, the closest town is about four days travel if we follow the road. And we have about four days of food rations, luckily the map shows there is a small river by the road. So we should be fine." Tana said, pointing to the map as she talked.

" What about wild animals? And bandits?! Or monsters?!" Minalla asked with growing fear in her voice.

Tana laughed, "The worst thing we could see is something like an owl-bear. Beside we're a paladin and an aasimar, I'm pretty sure we could handle a few bandits."

"What about those... those vampires?” Minalla asked, as the thought came to mind.

In a serious tone, Tana replied, “I guess we could walk alongside the road to stay hidden. It will take slightly more time though." She sat silently, trying to do the math in her head, "I think we have enough supplies to make it there. The only thing is if you could keep up." She said the last part with a slight laugh.

Minalla rolled her eyes. Doing so, she saw that the sun was beginning to set. "I can take first watch, if you want." She said, going to retrieve the single bedroll.

"No, it's fine. I'll take first watch and then I'll wake you up when it's your turn." Tana said, stopping the young girl.

"Just make sure you wake me up. You have to sleep to, you know." Minalla complied, mostly she was pretty tired at the moment. She finished rolling out the bedroll, and as soon as she got in she fell asleep. 

Tana chuckled. No way could she have taken first watch, she thought to herself. The night had been mostly uneventful. That is until, about three to four hours into her part of the of the night she heard something in the distance. At first she thought it was the wind, except she couldn't feel any breeze. She got low to the ground and scanned the area from the hilltop. When she found the source of the sound her breath hitched and her heart stopped. From a little over a mile away, they looked like ants, lit up in the full moon light, all marching west. Even from this distance, Tana could make out their dark armor, their pale as white skin, and their blood red eyes. She watched them for well over two hours when they walked out of view and into the cold night. After she spent some time to calm her nerves and to make sure they weren't coming back, she gently shook Minalla awake, taking her spot in the bedroll, and falling asleep faster then Minalla.


End file.
